Exciting Keynote Craig Karges is this year’s keynote speaker. He combines the art of magic with the science of psychology and the power of intuition to create the impression that nothing is impossible. Tables float, minds are read, metal bends and your imagination is challenged because you won’t believe your eyes. Craig is indeed an extraordinist! He is an award-winning entertainer, a nationally recognized speaker and an author.

Same Great Location Once again, the conference is returning to the same location this year. The conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza – DIA (formerly Holiday Inn) located at 15500 East 40th Avenue, Denver, CO, close to I-70 and Chambers. You will enjoy on-site lodging, free parking, no downtown traffic, free airport shuttle and plenty of fast food restaurants within walking distance.

Opening Sessions and Award Presentations This year, the opening session, including awards, scholarships, CSU research update and the very special keynote speaker, will run from 8 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 10. This allows you plenty of time to visit the exhibitor hall prior to and after the opening session before the conference sessions begin.

This year, the RMRTA will present the Distinguished Service award, the Turfgrass Professional of the Year award and the Colorado Turfgrass Foundation Scholarship recipients.

De-Turfing Hour The ever-popular De-Turfing Hour runs from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the Trade Center. Join your colleagues for drinks, snacks and fun while bidding on great items donated by exhibitors and a variety of area organizations. All proceeds from the silent auction and the raffle benefit the Colorado Turfgrass Foundation for continued research.

If you would like to donate an item to the Silent Auction, contact the RMRTA office at 303-770-2220, or fill in the Silent Auction section on your registration form.

CEUs & CECs Continuing education credits from the Colorado Department of Agriculture, GCSAA, STMA and others will be offered.

Trade Show Again this year, admission is free for those attending only the trade show, however the two complimentary meals (Wednesday lunch and Thursday morning coffee and pastries) are provided only for paid conference attendees. The trade show will be open on Wednesday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. and again on Thursday from 7 a.m. to noon.

The Continuing Education Credits (CEC) Track is designed to provide continuing education credits, applicable to maintaining certification and licenses. This year’s CEC track is designed for pesticide applicators. Other CEC/CEU classes are scheduled throughout the conference.

Tuesday, December 9 Educational workshops are offered on Tuesday, December 9. Come learn from respected members of the turfgrass industry on a variety of topics. Sign up soon-space is limited to 60 registrants for each workshop.

This workshop provides an in-depth overview of synthetic turf athletic fields. Specific topics include: the history and uses of synthetic turf; the construction process, including site selection, excavation, drainage, edge anchoring and the base aggregates. Carpet, infill and e-layer characteristics will be presented. Maintenance practices will focus on daily, weekly, monthly and annual activities.

This workshop provides basic financial concepts to help the small business owner with planning, such as types of retirement plans, and also various topics, such as diversification of assets outside your business, basic financial planning concepts such as insurance and wills and trusts, etc.

The first step in diagnosing a plant problem is to identify the plant. Knowing a plant’s identity allows comparison of its symptoms with what is known to be normal appearance. Knowing a plant’s identity allows the manager to research its most common local insect and disease problems or abiotic disorders. This workshop will focus on identification of commonly planted conifers and diagnosis of their problems in the landscape.

This seminar will discuss practical solutions to water availability and conservation through the use of surfactants. Topics covered will include identifying and alleviating localized dry spots, soil moisture improvement for enhanced turfgrass performance.

The goal of this workshop is to keep you commercial hand-held power equipment working out in the field, and to make it last longer. A real world experience will be created by bringing in several pieces of hand-held power equipment that run poorly. Most of the units will have actual field failures. Attendee breakout groups will correct each unit maintenance problem and replace defective parts found during the basic troubleshooting checks. All skill levels will gain some knowledge because of the hands-on training. Additional instructors will be on hand to help.

This workshop will discuss the need for proper grass ID for legal pest management purposes. We will discuss the fact that any grass species can be a weed when growing in the wrong place. Emphasis will be on how to use different resources (keys, books, Web sites) to assist in proper grass identification. Live samples will be provided. The majority of time spent on this workshop will be hands-on, learning how to properly identify the most common grasses encountered in Colorado lawns, parks, sports turf and golf courses.

The Isotopes’ field philosophy will be presented and will demonstrate how and why the field at Isotopes Park plays a vital role in the overall success of this AAA franchise. The discussion will touch on the challenges associated with maintaining a field that has college and professional baseball taking place simultaneously. It will focus on the maintenance practices and their adaptation to successfully manage a field with so much demand. The talk will also touch on the communication and cooperation that is necessary in order to schedule a high volume of games without sacrificing the quality of the playing surface. All of this must be accomplished within a budget and the basics of how will be discussed.

Hoticulture experts at the Denver Botanic Gardens will provide a four-hour enriching workshop on diverse landscaping topics. Topics covered will include using aquatic plants and native plants in the landscape, container gardening and ideas for using bulbs, annuals and other alternative turfgrasses.